African Americans: College Majors and Earnings

While college access has increased among African Americans, they are overrepresented in majors that lead to low-paying jobs. In our new report, African Americans: College Majors and Earnings shows that African Americans are underrepresented in the number of college majors associated with the fastest growing, highest-paying occupations. Read the full report: http://bit.ly/20M28d1

African Americans: College Majors and Earnings

Overview • Access to college
for African Americans has increased, but African Americans are highly concentrated in lower-paying majors • African Americans, who represent 12 percent of the U.S. population, are underrepresented in the number of degree holders in college majors associated with the fastest-growing, highest-paying occupations— STEM, health, and business

Earnings vary greatly among college
majors • African Americans who earned a Bachelor’s degree in a STEM related major, such as architecture or engineering, can earn as much as 50 percent more than African Americans who earned a Bachelor’s degree in art or psychology and social work

Majors and earnings African Americans
account for 12 percent of all Bachelor’s degree holders who majored in psychology and social work, and only 5 percent of architecture and engineering majors

African American representation is low
in the fastest-growing fields African Americans who majored in pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences and administration have the highest median earnings at $84,000

African Americans tend to be
overrepresented in low-earning majors Majors associated with serving the community, including human services and community organization (20%) and social work (19%), are highly represented

Conclusion • Careful career planning
is especially crucial for all African American students to help them avoid debt and underemployment later in life • African Americans who choose majors in well-paying, growing fields are likely to be better positioned to get higher paying jobs, acquire less student debt and nurture future generations

For more information: Email Us
| cewgeorgetown@georgetown.edu Follow Us on Twitter | @GeorgetownCEW Find us on Facebook | Facebook.com/GeorgetownCEW Follow us on LinkedIn | linkedin.com/company/georgetowncew See the full report at: cew.georgetown.edu/africanamericanmajors